Get Your Students Hired
Providing security through support and encouragement can lead to a successful outcome for all your students.
Being focused on students needs and expectations, especially adult learners, requires giving them time to answer questions, be interactive and giving positive feedback. Adult learners need to feel secure in their learning environments and more in control of their learning process.
Students must have a sense of self and feel instructors are approachable.
Learn students learning styles
The main thing I took away from this module is how to encourage adult learners in the classroom setting by giving them autonomy and some control over how they learn.
I always try to throw softball questions until everyone is comfortable with the activities and methods I am trying to implement.
Security and Autonomy are both needed in a balance to provide a motivational environment where students can progress and succeed. Pausing between thoughts or responding after a short pause allows for well formed responses and better overall questions.
Give students the opportunity to have a sense of control over their learning. Also create and organized and clear guide to what is they'll be doing in the class to provide a good sense of security.
Always be supportive and positive in responding to students in order to continue motivation.
I was surprised to learn the degree in which flexibility plays a role in the development of student autonomy. Partitioning assignments is one such example, where students are tasked to work upon groupings of assignments rather than all the assignments, while still adhering to the principles of the curriculum. For some trades in post-secondary schools this might work better than others, but overall it is a great way in which we as teachers can provide our adult students with levels of autonomy. One thing that I have been using in class to answer the question of security is to provide students with group worksheets that are needed to be solved. These group assignments will often get all my students involved, even the more placid.